I'm in Germany, our local discount retailers sell PV for apartment balconies as DIY systems — "Plug and play", even.
If Lidl can do it, why can't Walmart?
https://www.lidl.de/p/vale-balkonkraftwerk-minipv-800-et8-l-...
If Lidl can do it, why can't Walmart?
https://www.lidl.de/p/vale-balkonkraftwerk-minipv-800-et8-l-...
Essentially, any notable installation fundamentally deals with much higher currents and voltages and as such is much, much more dangerous. Once a certain size is reached, the carrier also has to be involved and professional installation is mandatory, both due to the law and requirements by insurance companies.
At least here in germany. I've been involved with building all kinds of PV installations in bavaria, from 4kwp up to 20MWp. The balkony generators aren't taken seriously by anybody in the industry right now, at least.
If you're working at that size, I'd expect you to ignore balcony systems regardless of how cost-effective they were.
My point here is simply and only that it's possible to make a system safe enough that an untrained and unskilled member of the general public can just plug it in and use it, which is exactly what was being called for up-thread with this:
> We should practically get to the point where someone can buy a roll of material at Home Depot and unravel it on their roof, nail it, and plug it in themselves.
Germany basically has that (even if it's not in the form of a roll); there's nothing fundamental preventing the USA from having it too.
They're sold for apartments, and as DIY jobs. They're designed to fit on a balcony just about wide enough to stand on, and to be installed without needing an expert.
The point of the example is to show that you don't need an expert. It's not even trying to show a specific unit that suits all people, just that one thing, that you don't need an expert to install it.
The voltages are the same regardless, because that's how domestic electricity works. (If you forced me to guess, I'd expect grid-scale PV farms to go direct to a higher voltage than domestic users, but I'm not an electrical engineer).
Don't get me wrong - I'm pretty committed to DIY a decent system, but it's not trivial and what you posted is just a toy.
The law in Germany may prevent you hooking up ten, but that's not relevant to the point or the market.
Can Americans even hook up things this size on their rental apartment balconies?
> Plus without proper meter (or CT "limiter")
Difficult term to search for, so I'm unsure what that is exactly. I get links about inverters, and I'm sure you noticed this comes with one so it's probably not that.
And this relates to the impact of module mass on (supposedly) preventing DIY installation (despite my example of a DIY installable system) how exactly?